Hey all,
Moving to OKC in just a couple of days and trying to entice a friend of mine to consider it too. He's an avid Jazz musician. Are there any clubs I can tell him he should go check out? Is there any other music scene going on there? I appreciate any help! Thanks!
SoCal2OKC

One place comes to mind and that is the UCO Jazz Lab next to Hideaway Pizza in Edmond. Very nice atomosphere and really big on the local jazz talent with the University and their Music Dept.

Even better is Makers Jazz Lounge. It is in bricktown. You have to know somebody to get in.....

Even better is Makers Jazz Lounge. It is in bricktown. You have to know somebody to get in.....

Really? You have to know someone? We have such an exclusive jazz scene in present day Oklahoma City that they have their own invite-only clubs? I never knew that. I remember it when it was just a cigar bar, is that still there and open to the, you know, the public?

I would second the Jazz Lab in Edmond, great place.

I guess you didn't catch the sarcasm.

The jazz lounge is upstairs from the cigar bar. It is 4 times bigger and you have to go through a random door with no signage.

It is the best bar in OKC. If you will find it you will know what I am talking about.

Are we talking jazz in the sense of small groups playing mostly standards, mostly in swung time, here? If one goes to, say, any one of our arts festivals or many outdoor gigs in Bricktown and searches out a band labeled as "jazz", the group will often fall short of that label, perhaps fitting the broadest reaches of it (despite being a good band per se) with its interpretations of smooth jazz.

It's happened more than once to me where I've gone out of my way to see a purported jazz group in action, only to be disappointed.

Charlie Christian Jazz Festival

NewsOK (http://newsok.com/article/3058063)


Although my personal favorite is Ron Burgundy on the Yazz Flute.

Thanks everyone!

Are we talking jazz in the sense of small groups playing mostly standards, mostly in swung time, here? If one goes to, say, any one of our arts festivals or many outdoor gigs in Bricktown and searches out a band labeled as "jazz", the group will often fall short of that label, perhaps fitting the broadest reaches of it (despite being a good band per se) with its interpretations of smooth jazz.

It's happened more than once to me where I've gone out of my way to see a purported jazz group in action, only to be disappointed.

The UCO Jazz Lab is sponsored by the school, which has one of the best jazz bands in the southwestern US. They play it all.

Maker's is more hit and miss. Downstairs it is usually a small combo playing jazz right out of a standards book, which is cool. Upstairs they sometimes have quartets, other times full big bands, and a lot of the time it is actually more of a rock-blues band, which I find disappointing.

Hey all,
Moving to OKC in just a couple of days and trying to entice a friend of mine to consider it too. He's an avid Jazz musician. Are there any clubs I can tell him he should go check out? Is there any other music scene going on there? I appreciate any help! Thanks!
SoCal2OKC

There's all kinds of music here. Flaming Lips are based out of here, Shiny Toy Guns, All American Rejects, and others. Also recently BIG news the Academy of Contemporary Music opened it's first American campus in the U.S. and it's located in our Bricktown district.

Home - ACM@UCO (http://acm.uco.edu/)